SEA Games 2025 likely Carlos Yulo’s next stint

Carlos Yulo, of the Philippines, celebrates on the podium after winning the gold medal during the men’s artistic gymnastics individual vault finals at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Carlos Yulo has no competition plans at the moment, as the Paris Olympics double gold medalist takes his sweet time reaping the benefits of his romp that made him the country’s greatest-ever Olympian and one of its top sporting heroes of all time.

“Right now, I have yet to put together plans at all because I have a full schedule,” he told reporters and content creators in Filipino on Saturday at Gateway Mall during a tribute arranged by DigiPlus.

“I never expected the [aftermath] to be like this. Once everything has settled down, I would also want to take my time to rest and carefully plot the next competitions that I’ll be in so I could prepare well, and be healthy [for it all],” he went on.

Yulo received a P5-million cash reward while having his partnership with the brand renewed during the event that also allowed some fans to take a selfie with the Manila-born gymnast, who ruled the floor exercise and vault events of the Summer Games.

What’s certain, according to Yulo, is that he’ll take part in the next Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) that will be staged in Bangkok, Thailand, in December next year. There, the 24-year-old will try to extend his reign as all-around and parallel bars champion.

Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion provided a much more detailed outlook on his ward.

“We want to go to [Los Angeles] in 2028 with a team and he will be leading that team,” she said. “Of course, a team is composed of four athletes and a reserve, so we really have to train the other three so we can win as a team.”

“And he wants to win the (Olympic) gold medal for all-around, and that’s going to be very, very difficult. So he’ll be training very hard. I just pray he doesn’t get injured because once you get injured, things are going to be very difficult. And that’s our prayer—that he doesn’t get injured.”

Carrion, without going much into detail, said she intends to make that vision possible by reeling in new mentors and sending Yulo—and the prospective team—to training camps all over the world.

“We’re gonna get a lot of coaches from other places, gonna send him to training camps wherever—England, Korea, Japan—all these places so he gets experience,” she said.